Underland, Charlie's Descent
by Jessica Liegh Johnson Boucher
Summary: It was true, however, that if anyone could have made Alice pause, it was her little sister and confidant Charlie. After coming back home from boarding school Charlie steps into her sister's shoe.
1. Chapter 1 It Begins

**Alice in Wonderland (2010) Fan-Fiction. Recognizable Upperland and Underland Characters Copywrited to Disney. Charlene Elsie Kingsleigh to iczerfae. (M) Mature Readers only.**

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**Chapter I: It begins.**

_All in the golden afternoon  
__Full leisurely we glide;  
__For both our oars, with little skill,  
__By little arms are plied,  
__While little hands make vain pretense  
__Our wanderings to guide._

Excerpt of "Golden Afternoon" by Lewis Carroll

It was a year since Frabjous Day and Alice was standing confidently at the bow of the ship, her long golden blond hair free of ribbons or barrettes and whipping in the wind. The massive ship blew it horn twice then slowly moved away from the harbor. Alice turned to the harbor and waved her final goodbye and one could tell that it was not sad but eager for the adventure ahead.

The Kingsleigh woman stayed until the ship was sailing into the western sky then made their way to their carriage.

"I still can't believe that Alice is gone," Margaret's voice trembled. "I can't believe you let her go, Mother." Helen Kingsleigh said nothing and sobbed quietly. Margaret turned to her youngest sister. "You could have said something Charlie, Lord knows Alice confesses to you everything."

Charlene Elsie Kingsleigh, or Charlie as her father and family called her, was different from the other Kingsleigh woman. If Alice had been the odd one, Charlie was the black sheep. Her mother and sisters had lovely golden blond hair, pale skin, and beautiful brown eyes; Charlie was a brunette, tanned , had one green eye and one blue, which she felt were entirely too large for her head in her opinion. She also felt she looked too much like her father.

It was true, however, that if anyone could have made Alice pause, it was her little sister and confidant Charlie. Charlie took her role very seriously. Alice had told Charlie all about Wonderland as they grew up, and as they were only four years apart, they bonded better with each other than their older sister. Charlie had always enjoyed Alice's stories, for that is what Alice had begun to call them after she turned ten years of age. As a child, Charlie would attempt to draw the characters from the story and show them to Alice for approval or draw them repeatedly until they were right. Alice found she needed her father or mother less and less after waking from her nightmares. As she would always sleep in Charlie's bed and both were comforted by the other's presence; they insisted on sharing their room.

Now in the carriage Charlie was determined to defend Alice's choice. "I would have jumped onto a ship as well if I had been the one forced to marry Hamish Ascot." Charlie stated rather bluntly.

"Charlene!" Margaret exclaimed, horrified.

"Lord Ascot has done much for our family," Helen Kingsleigh admonished. "It is horrible that you speak so low of his family."

"Lord Ascot is the only pleasant person out of his entire family. I don't blame Alice from trying to escape the marriage to his horrid son." Then Charlie said more to herself, "I would rather have the fictional Hatter from Alice's stories."

"Charlie!" Margaret whispered. "That is why you were sent to boarding school."

"Only after father had died. He hated the idea." The guilt and defeat in her mother's eyes only confirmed her cold statement. Outside, the rolled by and the sun was setting. Feeling regret at her mother's silence she continued, "I do not dislike you mother. I love you very much. I just don't understand why I could not stay." Charlie felt a lump of sadness rise in ther throat so she stopped talking and slumped against the carriage seat. The ride was spent in silence as the sun disappeared as the moon rose.

The carriage had lulled Charlie to sleep until she was gently shaken awake her mother and Margaret's whispers. Nolan, the butler, and his wife Emma greeted the family at the door of their quaint apartment. Emma was Charlie's nursemaid before she was sent to boarding school. The gentle and kind woman was in forties and had looked after Alice and Charlie as long as they could remember. Nana Emma grabbed Charlie's small traveling trunk and escorted her upstairs, promising a delicious breakfast and a lot of chatting in the morning.

Charlie was over whelmed with bitter nostalgia when she opened the door to the room she no longer shared with Alice. Only a few treasured toys remained and a large heavy oak desk had been arranged between the beds where the toy box had been. Charlie was glad to find the large standing mirror still had its place in the corner next to the armoire.

When the youngest Kingsleigh girls were little, they claimed to see things moving in the mirror from the corner of their eyes and would make up stories about it to pass the time.

The room also felt empty and lifeless without Alice, it felt dark even though the room was well lit with candles. Charlie's mind wondered to Alice's proposal to Charlie when she had returned home to see Alice off.

"_I cannot come with you Alice. I have no illusions of grandeur and adventure. Besides, I get sick in a row boat." Charlie admitted miserably. "You have changed… there seems more to you now. There is peace and a…a.. muchness, yes that is what comes to mind." Charlie caught a quizzical look fleeing from Alice's eyes. "What wrong?"_

"_Nothing. It is nothing." Alice gave Charlie a reassuring if somewhat sad smile. "You reminded me of someone."_

Now back in reality, Charlie left her room and headed to the first floor. She absent-mindedly caressed the door to her father's study with her finger tips, it was a ritual from childhood for warding off nightmares. Voices from inside the study grew louder, causing Charlie to stop and glare at the closed door.

There were not supposed to be voices in Charles' study. After her father's death, everyone refused to enter the study and it slowly became a shrine. The only exception was the maid who dusted once a week. The voices were not familiar and as late as it was, her mother would not be awake and Margaret had left for home as soon as Charlie had bid her a good night. Charlie surprised herself by stepping up to the door but when she began to turn the handle as slowly and as quietly as she could; the voices stopped abruptly. Charlie bust into the room and found only darkness and moonlight bathing her father's belongings.

After a quick investigation, she retreated into the candle-lit hallway and backtracked to her room as she had forgotten completely why she was going downstairs. Upon entering her room, Charlie felt an overwhelming need to write down what had happened, so she would know in the morning that she had not dreamt of the voices. As she moved a candle from her night stand to the desk, something on its corner caught her eye. She slowly reached out to grab it, afraid it might fight or flee. The light revealed an intricately beautiful black raven statue. Charlie searched her room while a feeling of being watched and an invasion of space washed of over her.

"Why is there a raven on my writing desk?" Charlie asked aloud to the empty room.


	2. Chapter 2: A Boat Under the Sunny Sky

_Long has paled that sunny sky:_

_Echoes fade and memories die._

_Autumn frosts have slain July._

_A Boat Under the Sunny Sky, Verse 3 - Lewis Carrol._

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The Kingsleys had survived two years without Alice, but they never went long without letters from their adventurer. They received many gifts and Charlie recieved special letters detailing some adventures the other women of the family would find inappropriate or distasteful. Their favorite gift was a portrait of Alice and her new fiance'. Alice was still the blonde beauty and her fiance' was handsome as well. He was slightly taller than Alice but not as pale; and had red curly hair and green eyes. From her letters, Alice had met the man in one of the ports her ship had docked on and he was invited aboard. In a private letter to Charlie, Alice had admitted that she felt she had met the man before.

While Charlie was happy for her sister, her sister's engament announcement had set their mother and Margret into a match-making frenzy. Many propsals came in, even Lady Ascot conceded to give Charlie a chance stating that while she was not as beautiful as her sister, she seemed more dependable and level-headed. Most of the bachelors that proposed were absolute monsters leaving Margret and Helen to decline them immediately. Charlie relayed all this and more in her letters to Alice but Alice never mentioned anything about recieveing any word from her family.

The weeks turned to months and months to years after Alice's last letter. The Kingsley family grew anxious and fearful of Alice's fate and Lord Ascot was unable to find out what happened as well. Finally word came when a gentleman in a simple grey suite called on Helen and Charlie, while they were visiting Lady Ascot and Hamish. Hamish and Charlie were under a gazebo in the Ascot Garden, sitting in uncomfortable silence, when the young man shly walked up to them.

"Excuse me, Miss Kingsley?" the young man was handsome with pale blue eys and black hair. He stood looking up at her while wringing his hat in his hands.

"Yes, how do you do . . . ?" Charlie asked waiting for the man's name.

"Sorry! I'm John Britteson, I was a ship mate with the China Trading Company." Behind the man Helen slowly made her way to Charlie, her face red and somewhat blocked by a hankerchief.

Charlie walked over to the man and stopped his hands. "What has happened Mr. Britteson?"

"Charlene that is hardly the way a lady should act."

"Silence Hamish!" Charlie ordered but kept her eyes on the man in front of her.

"I regret to . . . to tell you that two months ago most of the crew on the ship Wonder died when it sank in a storm in the middle of the sea of Bengal." He finally met her eyes, "You sister was one of the casualties." Charlie dropped his hand and stared into the space between the man and her mother. "She gave me something as the ship went down. I believe that is why I live, Miss, to give this to you." Charlie saw the man now held out a small grey pouch. She took it uncertainly and the man let out a relieved sigh.

"What is it Charlene?" Helen asked coming up and holding her youngest daughter. The pouch contained a silver oval locket on a silver chain. Inside was a picture of Alice on one side and one of her father on the opposite. Helen put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. "Thank you, Mr. Britteson, this means very much to us." Helen turned to her youngest and lovingly patted her back while blotting her eyes. "Charlene, let us go inside." Charlie looked to Hamish, Mr Britteson, and finally to her mother."

"Excuse me, but I need time to think." Charlie turned away and walked briskly at first then began to run through the garden maze until she was out and on a hill that over looked the Ascot Manor. Exhausted physically and emotionally, she dropped to the ground and cried against a gnarled tree stump.

Several weeks later, there was a soft knock on Charlie's door followed by her mother's soft voice. "Charlene, I was wondering if you would like to visit your sister and Lowell, a constitution if it were." Charlie looked to the door as it opened and her mother's face peered inside. "May I come in?" Helen's voice was hopeful but uncertain, Charlie merely nodded and watched as her mother slowly made her way to the window seat the her daughter occupied. At once Charlie felt ashamed at her self-pity and selfishness, her mother was grieving as much as she was. Although traveling was the furthest thing from her mind, her mother had such a hopefull look, Charlie had to agree. "Wonderfull, we shall leave in two days time," Helen looked as if she might jump from her seat. Instead she rose gracefully and recommended that Charlie should think of everything she should pack.

Helen and Charlie were greeted at the door by an excited Margret and a slightly bored Lowell. Immediately Margret told her guests what parties they would be attending and the shops they were going to visit as well as all the confirmed and unconfirmed bachlors that would be attending said parties. Charlie accidently let out a groan and blushed when she realized it was out loud. "Charlie," Helen repremanded. "Don't be so rude.

"I'm sorry Margret, I thought we were coming just to spend time with you. Perhaps visit the new zoo I have heard so much about."

"Oh Charlene, that zoo is absolutely horrid. Lowell and I attended after the grand opening and the animals didn't do a thing.

"Margret is quite right." Lowell added, everyone had forgotten he was there. "It would raise a scandle should you not attend any social events while here."

"You are a young woman, Charlene, its time you put away your childish fantasies and accept a suitor." Margret agreed.

"Alice did not marry," Charlie stated quietly. "Alice was able to live her life the way she wanted, the way it felt right to her."

"And look where that took her." Lowell muttered and Charlie flinched.

"Don't ever say that again." Charlie demanded as her eyes teared and she dabbed her nose with her handkerchief. Helen and Margaret's eyes danced between Lowell and Charlie.

"It not too late to become a proper lady of society, you don't want to end up like your Aunt Imogene." Helen sighed.

"Is that why you brought me here?" Charlie questioned her mother.

"Of course not." Helen tried to protest.

"You are all siding against me." Charlie deflated, feeling completely alone and hopeless.

"Charlie don't be so dramatic." Margret scolded. "We just want what is best for you."

"And you are sure of what is best for me.?"

"To marry and live a life without worrying about money or a home. Is that so bad?" Helen reasoned.

"I don't want to marry for money." Charlie began to cry silently.

"If you know your place," Lowell began, "Then you will be happy in your position. It is a fact of life."

"I don't know if I would have put it so harshly my husband. The point is that you are almost twenty-one years old Charlie. You need to put yourself out there to find a respectable husband and to stop being such a burden on mother." Charlie's family sipped their tea slowly while waiting for her reaction. Charlie looked out the parlor window into the street, night had fallen and the street lamps provided minimal light for a few pedestrians.

"If this is the world I have to be apart of, perhaps you are right." Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"I always knew you were sensible," Lowell smiled. He stood and pulled his wife to him. "It is late, Margret and I must ready for bed.

"Yes, as should we, come along Charlene." Helen bade.

"Coming Mother." Charlie slowly rose from her chair and followed the maid upstairs to her guest room. In the corner, opposite of her simple bed and next to her armoir, stood a long mirror from home. She drew back her curtains to allow what little light the street lamps provided. Sitting in front of the mirror, with her head resting on her arms and her arms resting on her knees, she stared at her reflection and thought about the second part of Alice's story Through the Looking Glass until she fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Through the Looking Glass

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

- A Boat Beneath the Sunny Sky, Verse 4 By Lewis Carrol

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After three days of shopping and three nights of chapagne, gossiping with London's aristocracy, she noticed she had danced with the same group of men and endured the same jokes and conversations. The fourth afternoon found Charlie reading at a local park, finally enjoying herself.

"I thought I would find you here." Margret's voice floated from behind the large Oak tree Charlie was leaning against. "It is awefully bright today.

"It is a park, Margaret, and the sun is shining." Charlie pointed out blatantly.

"I can't believe you have suitors with an attitude like that. I have news about that by the way." Margaret twirled her umbrella.

"Someone else has asked to court me?"

"Three more actually, two of them are quite successful right here in London. Lowell is aquainted with them."

"And the other?" Margret's serious face burst into a grin. "Is he that bad?"

"He's American," she laughed

"Augh! Not that beastly cowboy?" Charlie wrinkled her nose in disdain. She had met a few americans before and they seemed ok but this one was horrid. He had struck gold on a plot of land his family had claimed a few years ago in California . He was wild, loud, ignorant and arrogant. For some reason, beyond Charlie, all the women flocked to him. The Cowboy, however, had locked onto Charlie.

"I've a feeling he might be the most persistant," Margret gloated.

"No doubt I'll be stuck at home, "popping out babies like a good wife," as he has said."

"Lowell and I have invited them all tomorrow night so that mother can meet them."

"You didn't!" Charlie sat up straight and grapped ahold of her sister's skirt, making sure Margret couldn't run.

"Charlene don't yell," Margret scolded while glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention. "Its time to choose a suitor, you have a good variety of men who are willing to court you. You should count your blessings. Charlie, are you listening to me?" Charlie was not listening as she had caught sight of a curious man walking towards them with a purpose. His shoes were a little scuffed, his black trousers a tad too short and he was carring a black overcoat over his left arm. He wore a green waist coat with a chain leading to his left pocket. Physically he was a handsome man with pale skin, very pretty green eyes and brilliant red hair pulled into a ponytail. He had a hesitant smile when he asked a question that caught the sisters off guard.

"Do either of you know Alice Kingsley?"

The man spoke in a good natured voice with a pleasant tone and a slight lisp. When Margret paled at the question and almost matched the stranger's coloring, Charlie started to laugh. The man smiled and Margret scolded Charlie for her rudeness.

"I am sorry Marget and my apologies sir for my outburst. I hope you don't think I was laughing at you."

"No, not at all," he smiled. Charlie got to her feet and dusted her dress of debris.

"I am Charlene Kingsley, Alice's sister, would you like to join me for tea Mr...?"

"Hightopp, Tarrance Hightopp." Mr Hightopp shook the hand Charlie offered and stunned Margret into more silence. "I would love to share tea with you."

"Charlene," Margret whispered. "We don't know him."

"No, we don't,_ but_" Charlie admitted.

"But?" Margret eyebrows furrowed even more and looked slgihtly paniced.

"I feel as though we've met before." Charlie glanced briefly at the strange man, blushing slightly.

"Where on earth could you have met?"

"Calm down Margret, he knows Alice, that is enough for me." Charlie went over to Mr Hightopp. "Shall we go? she asked. He offered his arm to Charlie and the two of them left Margret to follow.

Sitting in Margret's parlour, the family exchanged hesistant glances through an uncomfortable silence. Charlie's mother, sister and Lowell sat as far from her and her guest as possible. "So," Charlie began.

"You knew Alice?" Helen blurted out. "You've come all this way to look for her, I'm terribly sorry that my youngest daughter dragged you here to receive such depressing news."

"Did you run out of tea?" Mr Hightopp asked as he glanced around at everyone.

"Excuse me?" Helen shook her head in bafflement.

"Did you run out of tea? Is that the bad news?"

"No, Mr Hightopp," Charlie spoke quietly. "We have plenty of tea. I'm afraid our bad news pertains to my dear sister, Alice. She died a few months ago." Mr Hightopp was silent as he searched her eyes, he had the air of a delicate soul about him, he seemed as though he might not be able to take the news. Finally he stood and smoothed out his vest, taking his coat, and inquired as to where the garden was located. "I'll show you there, Mr Hightopp. There are things I would like to discuss with you if you don't mind." He merely nodded and made his way to the back of the apartment.

"Charlene I do not believe it wise to keep this man here," her mother insisted.

"Please indulge me a bit longer. Not many people truly knew Alice the way we did. It would be nice to remminesce about her with someone who has a fresh prespective." She followed Mr Hightopp out the door and to a secluded corner of her sister's small garden. She bade him to sit with her on the bench but he stood starring at the pond. "Did you know my sister well, Mr Hightopp?"

"Aye, well enough. . .she had a muchness to her." Mr Hightopp's hesitated, his voice had lowered and was sprinkled with a scottish accent.

"That is exactly it, after father's death she had lost her muchness but when I came back from boarding school, she seemed to get it back." Tarrance only nodded. "Are you angry, I was. I was angry that I didn't agree to go with her and I was angry that she left without me. She left me alone."

"Aye, feels something like that, it seemed she would keep her promise." His scottish accent was thick now and to Charlie's surprise, his eyes now twinged with orange around the iris.

"May I ask what she promised?"

"She said she would be back."

"I'm sure she meant to keep that promise until the day she died." Charlie tried to assure him but her hand grazed the locket around her throat and her thoughts went to the man Alice had found to replace the one in front of her.

"You are a strange man, Hatta." Mr Hightopp snapped his head around to her.

"What did ye say?" Charlie's heart lept in excitement and she felt heat rushing to her face for embarassment.

"Forgive me, it just slipped. Alice would tell me stories of a man named Hatta when we were younger. Surely it is impossible, yet here you stand before me exactly as I imagined him. "

"Stories?" He seemed to find that disturbing.

"Yes she had the most wonderfull imagination. Most of the adults found it odd, but our father was always supportive of anything creative."

"S'pose they not be stories, but mem'ries. What then?" Mr Hightopp was staring intently into a pond in the center of Margaret's garden.

"However delightful it might be, that would be nonsense," She rose and met him by the pool. "Alice's want of adventure sparked a need in me to

study anthropology. I suppose a small part of me was looking for such a place as in her stories, but I never found it. Wonderland does not exist in the waking world Mr Hightopp."

"I find that utterly ridiculous!" an unknown voice said indignantly from nowhere.

"Mr Hightopp, please tell me you heard that voice." Charlie aked looking all around her.

"Of coarse I heard it, t'would be the Chessur Cat." Charlie paled.

"I never mentioned Chessur, how did you know about him?" Mr Hightopp turned to her and pointed into the pond.

"Because he's real Miss Kingsley." A large gray and pink cat with big green eyes was starring up at them looking rather offended and slightly annoyed.

"Hatta, that is not Alice." At once Charlie looked to Mr Hightopp with shock, frozen in place."

"She will have to do, Cat." With that the Hatta pulled Charlie to him and jumped into the pond. At once Charlie started to fight against her captor but a strange feeling overcame her. As he was pulling her down she became extremely dizzy and felt as though she were doing summersaults. Then he was pulling her up, her lungs burning for air. They both burst through the surface of the water gasping for air and the Chessur Cat floating above them.


	4. Life Update

Howdy How to those are still with me!

This was supposed to be attached to Chapter 3 but I was too excited to remember to add this. My baby boy now sleeps about 6-9 hour at night between feeding at night so I get some free time. The bad part is he sleep guaranteed at 12pm, same as when I was preggers. XP

But I recently recieved inspiration for this story at least. My writing style is I post as it comes to me although there are some buffer parts for later chapters (content already in place) that i connect to. So far this has worked to keep the story flowing and me going. I find it hard to write this as it is original. Because it is original it is hard not to incorporate some influences from fellow writes at FanFiction. If something seems a little too familiar, please let me know!

Thank you reader for staying and I hope I don't let you down in the quality and direction of my work. Happy reading until my next post!


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